Wilted Flower
by magnetosdaughter
Summary: Barty Crouch Jr encounters a neglected Lily at a party. Features Barty's somewhat odd POV, please RR


**Title: **Wilted Flowers

**Pairing: **LilyxBarty Jr

**Disclaimer: **i don't own anything.

**Author's Notes:** written for a challenge: _write a story featuring LilyxBarty Jr within the Romance/Fluff genre with the prompt wilted flowers_...this is not quite romance and much too angsty for fluff, but really, I cannot imagine an entirely happy Barty Crouch Jr story. as for the prompt, it's not just in the title, this story finds a lonely neglected Lily as James is off with his friends (remember, Lupin changes _every four weeks_)...so Lily is the wilted flower, found at a party by a quiet, somewhat odd boy. Please note this story is hard on James...I don't dislike James but for this story he kinda had to be the less-than-perfect-boyfriend.

xxx

Truth or dare?

Truth means I might have to tell them something I don't want them to know. Something they can use against me. Something...something _true_...

Dare means I might have to do something I don't want to do. Or something I do want to do but shouldn't want to do.

Or I can choose to lie either way but there's something about her that makes me want to be completely honest, even if it means...no matter what it means. Something about her eyes, about they way they look at you and through you at the same time.

Truth or dare?

Truth is I want her to choose truth and I want the answer to be me. And I want her to choose dare and I want the test to be me.

Or I want her to lie because if it's not me I don't want to know so I can go on imagining it might be me.

Truth or dare?

Truthfully I know she shouldn't even be here and wouldn't be here if her Quidditch star boyfriend didn't choose his friends over her and truthfully I don't know why he does because I never would. And I don't know how I dared to come when they're all mostly seventh years and I'm not and they're all mostly Gryffindors and I'm not and they're all mostly popular and I'm not. But I lied and I said she told me to come and I don't know why they believed me and I don't know why she didn't tell them the truth but she didn't and now I'm afraid to choose truth because I can lie to them but I can't lie to her.

But I can't choose dare because that's just as easily a lie.

Truth or dare?

I don't answer and she says it's okay, they'll come back to me.

And one by one they choose truth or dare and two by two they leave the circle until there's only three of us left. She is quiet and looking away and maybe she's thinking of her Quidditch star boyfriend. And he looks bored and tells her he's leaving since he can't have her and he doesn't want me. And I still haven't gone because I cannot choose. And now it's not a circle anymore, just her and me.

And she says it's my turn to ask and she chooses truth and I ask the first thing that comes to my mind, do you know my name? And she laughs and says yes and then she says my name and when she says it I don't hate it and I don't hate it so much I want to cry but I don't because she's still smiling. And she says that shouldn't count but I say it's okay and I choose truth.

And she asks why I told them she asked me to come and I can't lie so I tell her the truth. I wanted to be with her and she was here and they wouldn't let me come if I just asked. And she says I'm wrong but if I ever want to come again I can always say she invited me and it won't be a lie anymore.

She chooses truth and I ask her why she's here and not with her Quidditch star boyfriend and she says he's with his friend and his friend needs him more than she does today. And I ask her if it bothers her that he chooses his friend over her and she says no but she says it in a way that means she's not lying to me but she may be lying to herself and I start to ask her another question but she says it's my turn.

I choose truth and she asks me who the prettiest girl in the room is and I am surprised because this question has been asked before and led to two couples leaving the circle. But even though I am surprised I have already answered and even though she knew the answer she smiled in that way that girls smile when you tell them they are pretty.

She chooses truth and I ask if she wants to kiss me and I did not mean to ask this but I did. And she blinks and I think I should say something but I don't know what and I can't speak anyway. And then she says yes in that way that means she misses her Quidditch star boyfriend but I don't care because she said yes.

I choose dare and she dares me to kiss the prettiest girl in the room and I am not surprised because this is what led to the others leaving the circle but we don't have to leave the circle because the circle already left us. I lean in and kiss her the way you kiss the prettiest girl in the room and she kisses me the way a girl with a Quidditch star boyfriend kisses someone else when he's not there. Then we stop and we look around and even though the circle's gone we decide to leave. And we move to a corner where no one can see us and we kiss again and I do not understand how the prettiest girl in the room could be so lonely. Almost as lonely as me.

Truth or dare?

Truth is it's not fair, in the morning she'll go back to her Quidditch star boyfriend and she'll be happy in the way girls are when they convince themselves they're in love. Truth is she only kissed me because she wanted to feel pretty. Truth is she'll tell herself it meant nothing, I'm just a shy kid with a crush and what she did she did for me, not her. Truth is sometimes only half the story. The rest of it is something only some of us learn.

The ones who dare.

Fin.


End file.
